A Good Day for Oscar Pistorius at Trial as Final Defense Witness Testifies

So far, today's trial proceedings have gone very well for Oscar. His final witness, his physician and team doctor, is on the stand. The following is a recap from tweets of several live reporters in the courtroom:

Earlier today, the psych evaluation report of the state panel of experts was read into the record and accepted by both parties. Neither called witnesses to expound on it. The report found Oscar does not have narcissistic personality traits, and he has no history of abnormal aggression of violence. He has no personality traits typical of a rage killer, and he does feel genuinely vulnerable. Oscar has a history of feeling insecure and vulnerable, especially without prostheses

The report also confirmed Oscar and Reeva were in a loving relationship. There were no signs of abuse or coercion. [More...]

Importantly, the report makes clear Oscar’s psychological issues manifested after the shooting, not before. And, that Oscar's reaction that night might seem "extraordinary" for an able-bodied person, but not for Oscar.

Oscar's team doctor testified. He may be the last defense witness. He is currently a professor of sports and exercise medicine at the University of Cape Town. He specialises in the prevention of illness and injury in athletes with impairments or disability. He has received several awards. He says the role of a team doctor is to establish a relationship of trust to care for the athletic in a holistic way. He said the relevance of his testimony is his expertise and experience, as well as his intimate knowledge of Oscar, whom he's treated for 6 years. They lived together in a team setting in Beijing & London.

The doctor testified he has observed Oscar interacting with fellow athletes, authority figures and the general public. He has kept in touch with Oscar since Reeva's death.

The doctor says Oscar is highly professional, disciplined and focused. He is very vigilant not to consume prohibited substances.

Oscar has had respiratory tract infections, allergies and problems with his left stump particularly. The pad on bottom of his stump had moved, resulting in him being unable to bear full weight on left leg without leaning. Balance and walking are difficult for him.

He says Oscar is an anxious individual. He has tremor in his hands and a sleep disorder. He testifies about his research on psychological distress in disabled athletes. He says markers for anxiety and depression are higher among disabled athletes than able-bodied athletes. Oscar, he says, has an exaggerated startle response, even at fireworks displays at opening and closing ceremonies. He covers head and ears and "cowers away" until the noise stops. He is hyper-vigilant, which manifests in restlessness, looking around, and scanning for a potential threat.

He also talked about the startle and fight/flight response, saying he has witnessed exaggerated startle and fight / flight responses in disabled people, where able-bodied not react. ""I have observed a significantly higher startle in persons with disability reacting to perceived threat and imminent fear of harm". He says He says it's a primitive response -- adrenaline kicks in, the heart rate goes up, and the muscles prepare.

The Doctor said the last time he spoke to Oscar before Reeva died Oscar had told him "he was lying next to the "most wonderful girl he had ever met." Oscar called him 12 days before shooting and told him he couldn't wait him to meet Reeva.

I still believe that the state has not come close to proving its case beyond a reasonable doubt, and that an acquittal is in order. I think Oscar's lawyer outperformed his adversary by miles. All Nell displayed was anger as he presented his dubious theory and conflicting witness testimony. We'll have to wait to see if the Judge agrees.

He says Oscar is an anxious individual. He has tremor in his hands and a sleep disorder. He testifies about his research on psychological distress in disabled athletes. He says markers for anxiety and depression are higher among disabled athletes than able-bodied athletes. Oscar, he says, has an exaggerated startle response, even at fireworks displays at opening and closing ceremonies. He covers head and ears and "cowers away" until the noise stops. He is hyper-vigilant, which manifests in restlessness, looking around, and scanning for a potential threat.

Then someone should have intervened and made d@mn well sure he had no access to guns.

One minute, he's "hyper vigilant." The next, he's pitifully incapable of noticing that Riva wasn't in bed. Since he occupied one side of the bed before closing the door and almost immediately fetched is gun from the other side, he had observed both sides, what you'd expect of a "hyper-vigilant" kinda guy.

I know this is a defense site, but I don't know how anyone can, with a straight face, think that the prosecution didn't prove their case and that Mr. Pistorius will be found guilty of at least culpable homicide. His story is not even close to being credible and the defense witnesses have had major holes poked through their stories.

But I agree with you that Oscar Pistorious should probably be found guilty of culpable homicide. Society should not hand out mulligans to those who take another's life through their own negligence and recklessness, just because it was never the intent of the accused to kill someone.

Further, Pistorious has a documented history of irresponsible public gunplay and when caught in one instance, allegedly asked an acquaintance to take the blame for him. I'd offer that this is the act of an emotionally immature and self-absorbed individual.

I will agree with Jeralyn that it was never the defendant's intent to cause Reeva Steenkamp any harm that night, and that therefore he is not guilty of murder. Nonetheless, the facts of this case do show that she died at his hand, and further that her death is due to no reason other than his own admitted fear (paranoia?) about becoming a potential victim of violent crime -- even though he resided in an exclusive gated community in Pretoria that was patrolled by armed guards 24 hours a day.

Given the setting in which the homicide occurred, one can reasonably conclude that the defendant's fear of armed and violent intrusion was not a rational one. Yet the defense would insist that while the defendant is completely of sound mind and not gripped by a crippling anxiety disorder, his conduct should be excused because while he obviously panicked and acted on that aforementioned fear, he never meant to cause the love of his life any harm. They apparently wants to have its cake and eat it, too.

I don't fault defense counsel for wanting us to believe that, because they are obliged to defend their client vigorously and to the utmost of their abilities. Barry Roux had to play the hand dealt to him by the totality of circumstances, and he certainly played it very well.

But when all is said and done, a young woman died needlessly at the hands of her lover, for no reason other than an irresponsible negligence on that lover's part which was predicated upon by his own irrational fears. And if the defendant is of otherwise sound mind, as his counsel insists and medical professionals have since concluded and confirmed, then there should be some sort of substantive price exacted from him for having taken her life.

Now, I'm not an attorney, but I do have considerable personal experience as a legislative analyst in the drafting and enactment of law, which includes criminal statutes. And based upon that personal experience, I would observe that generally, life tends to thwart and undermine most all our attempts to define it in uniformly black-and-white terms.

Accordingly, I believe that our collective sense of justice -- regardless of the case and matter which might be before us -- should rightly defy any and all attempts to see its legal outcomes either restricted or reduced to a series of zero-sum contests, by which only one side or the other is allowed to prevail in full.

To give in and do otherwise is to not stand upon longstanding principle, but to instead surrender to the expediencies of the given moment, which can only enhance such opportunities for grievous miscarriages of that justice to occur.

Detail by detail, it's too gruesome for me. But Joshua is very high risk for developing PTSD because of his disability and his surgeries. PTSD doesn't just manifest in those who have experienced violent murder and mayhem. Extreme surgical procedures having to be preformed on children can and do result in hampering them with lifetime PTSD. Though we see none of this with Josh at this point, we have been warned and we do what we can to make certain he never feels overwhelmingly vulnerable.

When the doctor says Oscar is an anxious individual and goes on to describe him not being able to bear hearing fireworks and such at sporting events, it seems to me he is talking about Oscar before the shooting. He does say he has kept in touch with Pistorius since Reeva's death, but he doesn't say they have been attending sporting events together again and that this cowering around fireworks is new behavior.

Of PTSD these days. His previous symptoms sound like PTSD, and once a person develops PTSD it easily becomes elevated or exacerbated by over stimulation or significant events. PTSD responses can rise and fall though in an individual. Being diagnosed with PTSD doesn't immediately remove you from service now either, they are working on scoring the level and retaining some people with more mild PTSD. Some PTSD can resolve and heal over time as well and some cannot.

We had many people come home from war though and be diagnosed as having anxiety, but later be diagnosed by a different PhD as suffering from PTSD. It seemed that the military liked the anxiety diagnosis because it meant it wasn't their fault....after awhile they had own the PTSD because 80% of the military can't be suffering from a genetic anxiety disorder :)

more from anger issues than anxiety. But the state hasn't really highlighted this and it seems the psychiatric report doesn't mentioned it in what has been revealed so far. A few witnesses mentioned it and Reeva herself in an email said to him that she was afraid of him because of the way he snaps at her. But then again anger is tied anxiety in a way I suppose.

With Pistorius' murder trial still underway in South Africa, the family lawyers of the accused athlete said the "visual mapping" re-enactment was for trial preparation only and they alleged it had been "obtained illegally" by Australia's Channel 7, which ran the video on its Sunday Night programme.